


From the Hilltop

by FarmlandTensions



Series: Ereri Week 2015 [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fireflies, M/M, Summer Love, Young Love, dorky teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 22:04:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4075432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FarmlandTensions/pseuds/FarmlandTensions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Day Four of Ereri Week 2015 - Fireflies.</p><p>Teenaged Levi spends his summers bored out of his mind at his parents’ cabin in the country, until one year a new family visit, and he sees their son from his favourite spot on the lake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From the Hilltop

Levi pretended to hate the cabin, but really he loved it. It gave him an excuse to not be social. He had always been pretty introverted, and had wound up with a couple of extroverts for best friends, so if he stayed back home in the summer he was sure they’d drag him to every party in the town and then some, especially now that he was seventeen and only a couple of months away from his final year in school.

He’d never been more glad that his parents insisted on dragging him down the country. He’d been spending his summers there for as long as he remembered, and while he kept up a grumpy facade, the place was actually quite pleasant.

Plus, it was the only place he got to see fireflies, not that he’d ever admit his fascination with the creatures to anyone else. He’d seen them first the very first time he snuck out of the cabin at night. There was a hill that started not too far behind the cabin, covered in beautiful fresh-smelling trees, and at the top of the hill Levi had a perfect view of the lake. If he was more athletic, he’d think of it as the perfect place to dive in, a cliff not quite high enough to hurt himself when he hit the water. But instead, the small boy had sat contentedly at the edge of the cliff with his feet dangling over and watched in the dark as the fireflies on the lake lit up his world.

It had become a tradition for him since then. Every time he came down to the cabin for the summer, he would spend at least one night a week watching the fireflies on the lake. He still snuck out to do it, though he reckoned his parents would care less about it now that he was seventeen than they would have if they’d known he’d done it aged five.

He slammed the car door when he got out of it and shot his parents a glare as he lugged his gym bag full of clothes and books into the cabin and to his room. Couldn’t have them thinking he was happy to be here, though really he suspected his mother always knew how much he liked the place. She just played along with the charade. He flopped on the bed and sighed to himself. It was a wet day when they arrived, so he decided that he would wait for a more dry day before going down to the lake. He wanted his first time seeing them in almost a year to be perfect.

He spent his time mostly moping about the cabin and reading - both recreationally and for study - and was secretly delighted when the weather cleared up and a beautiful clear day rolled along.

That night he snuck out of the cabin as silently as possible and headed up the hill to his favourite spot. It was a very clear night, not a cloud in the sky, and his path was illuminated by the moon. When he reached the peak of his little hill, he breathed in deeply and smiled to himself before sitting down at the edge and watching the surface of the lake, delighting in the sight of the fireflies flickering around the water.

The place was timeless, and Levi didn’t know how long he’d been sitting there before his peace was disturbed. It was the first time anything had interrupted his alone time in this spot, and it took him a moment to register what was happening. A boy not much younger than himself was hopping along the side of the lake. Levi frowned and tilted his head as he tried to figure out what the boy was doing, but it didn’t hit him until the boy got his shoe off and tossed it over his shoulder. His other shoe was already missing, and the departure of this one was followed swiftly by his shirt being peeled off his torso and dropped beside him. Levi’s eyes widened as he watched the boy drop his shorts and boxers and jump into the lake.

Levi had never much thought about his sexuality before. Sure, there was the occasional celebrity he found appealing, but he had never really looked at any of his peers in a sexual light. At least, not until that moment, when time moved slowly and he saw glistening, bare skin break through the surface of the lake, illuminated by the pale moonlight. The boy shook his head like a dog, sprinkling little drops of water around him and spreading hundreds of tiny ripples,  and laughed openly to himself before diving back in under the water. When he surfaced again, he pulled his hair back out of his eyes with both hands, sleeking it back, and Levi felt all his breath leaving his body in one go. He was immaculate. And then he lay on his back, floating serenely under the fireflies, doing a languid back-crawl with his eyes closed, and Levi caught sight of something he’d been too stunned to pay attention to when the boy had stripped first. And he definitely liked it.

Levi watched the boy until he felt like it had been far too long, and then stood from his perch and stepped back. One of his feet brushed against some loose stones and sent them cascading down the side of the cliff, and the night was so still that the faint sound echoed across the clearing. The boy in the lake started and moved to an upright position, and his eyes met Levi’s seconds before Levi turned and ran back to the cabin. His heart was pounding when he made it back to his room, and he found it difficult to sleep that night.

A couple of days later, there was a big barbecue for the people staying in the area. There were a couple of these hosted each summer, and Levi usually spent them by himself. When they’d started coming to the cabin first, he’d been younger than the few other kids there by a few years, and any new families that had moved there since had children who were far younger than Levi. Somehow he’d missed both generations of children by just enough to be awkward, but he didn’t really care. He preferred keeping to himself anyway. This year, however, his parents introduced them to the new family in the area - The Jaegers, with their sixteen-year-old son, Eren, who Levi couldn’t quite look in the eye.

His family apologised on his behalf, calling him shy as he glared at his baked potato and poked it with his fork. And the Jaegers had moved over to the barbecue to get some food.

A short while later, someone sat down right beside him at his table, a full plate in front of them. Levi felt himself stiffen, but tried to ignore it as he continued to eat his food.

“So, that lake is nice.”

Levi’s hand stilled for a moment and he cursed himself mentally for the slip up before going resuming his actions. If he played it cool, maybe the kid wouldn’t realise he’d been gawking at him for so long the other night.

“There’s not usually anyone else down there.”

The boy seemed to perk up at that, interest seeping into his tone.

“Oh, you go there a lot?”

Levi poked at the potato a few times as he debated whether or not to let this guy in on his secret, even if it wasn’t anything important. Eventually he shrugged and responded.

“I like looking at the fireflies.”

That seemed to be an acceptable answer for Eren, as Levi could see his head nodding in agreement out of the corner of his eye before he stuffed his mouth with food. He waited until he had swallowed before he spoke again, for which Levi was grateful.

“It’s really pretty down there,” He paused for a moment, and his statement hung in the air like he wasn’t quite finished, so Levi waited for him to carry on, “Do you think you could show me how to get up to where you were? I’d say the view is great from up there.”

Levi tried to make his shrug seem casual, even though he could feel his heart rate speeding up at the thought of bringing this unfathomably attractive boy to his secret place.

“Alright. When do you want to go?”

“Tonight?” The boy sounded too hopeful.

Levi pretended to think about it for a moment, as if he had something else he might be doing.

“Sure. Meet me by our cabin at half ten, it’s the one just over there,” he nodded to his cabin, and then made the mistake of turning to look at the boy, who was beaming at him.

That night, Levi snuck out again and waited by the side of the cabin. He had thought about changing into something that looked better on him, but decided it would be too obvious if he were wearing something different to earlier, and opted to stay in the same clothes. He was waiting for about ten minutes before Eren came into view.

He met him halfway and then silently turned and walked towards his usual path up the hill. The boy took his lead and followed him in silence, the only sound their feet shuffling through the stones on the path.

  
Levi stopped when he reached the top of the hill, looking out over the lake, and Eren stepped up beside him. Levi stole a look at the other boy, he was taller than him by a few inches even though he was younger than him, and he had a look of awe on his face. Levi took in his soft features, his little round nose, his thick eyebrows and wild hair.

“Come on,” he muttered as he turned back towards the lake and moved up to the edge, sitting down and letting his legs hang down as he usually did.

Eren took tentative steps towards him and glanced down, then took a deep breath before he sat beside Levi, mimicking his position. They sat in silence until the fireflies began to appear, and Levi nudged Eren’s arm with his elbow before he pointed them out with a finger.

Eren’s gaze followed the gesture, and his mouth dropped open at the sight of the fireflies drifting out across the lake.

“They’re beautiful,” he gasped, the wonder clear on his face.

Levi nodded and kept his gaze on the lake below, afraid his heart would thump its way out of his chest if he let his eyes linger on Eren’s figure. There was something so intimate about this moment, like he was sharing his whole childhood with this boy he hardly knew.

They sat in silence for what felt like years, and as the moon moved across the sky, Levi stood from his place and stepped back. Eren followed after him, and neither of them spoke until they reached the cabin again.

Eren gave him a sheepish grin and whispered a thank you, then bent down and placed a kiss on Levi’s cheek before he disappeared into the night.

Levi found it hard to sleep that night too.

The two didn’t speak to each other much. On the rare occasion they met up during daylight hours, Eren would talk about his life and his friends back home, and Levi would listen quietly and input very little. But once a week Eren would show up at Levi’s cabin after dark and they would sit for hours at the top of the hill, looking out over the lake.

At first they just sat side by side, and then one day, Eren’s hand found its way on top of Levi’s on the edge of the cliff, and a few weeks later they sat with their fingers entwine as Levi’s heart rate accelerated. One night, Eren asked Levi to wear his swimming trunks the next time they came to the lake, and a week later Levi watched as Eren stripped his t-shirt off, ran to the edge and leaped into the water from above, and he took a steadying breath before he followed suit. There were playful splashes, and then the two lay on their backs, hand in hand, as they drifted across the surface of the lake, beneath the fireflies and beneath the stars.

On their last night together, Eren’s palms were sweaty and his smile faltered, and Levi wondered if something was wrong, until the question came.

“Can I kiss you?”

Levi’s heart stopped and his breath left him, and he stared up into Eren’s eyes for what felt like an eternity before his head was nodding rapidly. And then soft lips were being pressed clumsily against his own. And it was awkward, but it was sweet. When they regained their breath and felt a little less shaky, they did it again, less awkward but just as gentle and just as pleasant. And they smiled at each other and gripped their hands tightly as they watched the fireflies below for the last time that summer.

**  
When Levi left the cabin that year, he left with a smile, and Eren’s number in his phone, and cute little texts in his inbox, and promises to meet again next year if they couldn’t get together before then. And he loved his trips to the cabin even more than before.**


End file.
